Cybersecurity Job Requirements in Asian Countries: An Analysis of Workforce Trends and Future Implications
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Florian GERTH Asian Institute of Management, Makati, Philippines Centre for the Study of Global Economic Future (CSGEF), UAE
This study maps the evolving cybersecurity talent landscape in four Asian economies - the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong - using 223 LinkedIn job postings (August 2024) and mixed quantitative - qualitative analyses. Regression results confirm that senior positions demand, on average, 5.3 years more experience than analyst roles and that Philippine postings require 1.5 years less experience than their Hong Kong benchmark, reflecting country-specific maturity levels of the digital sector. Thematic analysis highlights rising demand for cloud-security, incident-response, and governance skills. Importantly, we link these workforce trends to macroeconomic outcomes: Asia-Pacific now holds 60 % of the global cybersecurity talent gap and closing it could lift developing-country GDP per capita by 1.5 % within a decade. Policymakers therefore face a dual imperative - protecting the digital economy and unlocking productivity gains - by investing in skills pipelines and cross-border talent mobility. Findings inform targeted recruitment, training, and economic-development strategies across the region.
Copyright© 2025 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the license CC-BY 4.0., which permits any further distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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